September 16, 2024 |
Photo – Open Loop Storage Facility – Courtesy energy.gov
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will hold a public meeting to discuss the proposed Seminoe pumped storage facility next week.
On June 26th, Utah-based rPlus Energies held a meeting in Sinclair to explain their plan to construct a pumped storage facility at Seminoe Reservoir.
rPlus Energies Chief of Staff Theresa Foxley said the pumped storage facility will act like a giant battery. When electricity is abundant, water will be pumped from the Seminoe Reservoir into a higher lake that will be constructed specifically for the project. When energy demands outpace production, Foxley said the stored water will be allowed to flow downhill through a turbine to generate electricity.
The pumped storage project will involve the construction of an upper lake on a hilltop roughly one third of a mile northeast of Seminoe Reservoir. The new lake is expected to be roughly 1% the size of the existing body of water. Large underground tunnels will be built to move the water from Seminoe Reservoir to and from the upper lake.
Speaking at the June meeting in Sinclair, rPlus Energies Program Manager Lars Dorr said most of the electrical production facility will be located underground.
A large underground chamber will need to be excavated to house the electrical turbine and other equipment necessary for the operation of the facility.
Some Carbon County residents fear that changes to the area may disrupt the local wildlife, especially fish. Seminoe Reservoir, and the nearby Miracle Mile, are world famous trout fishing locations.
At the June meeting, Energies Program Manager Dorr said an initial study performed by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality shows the proposed pumped storage facility will have little to no impact on water quality.
The pumped storage facility is expected to generate 900 megawatts of electricity over the course of 10 hours as water flows from the upper lake down into the Seminoe Reservoir. Dorr said when the facility is operating, the water level of the Seminoe Reservoir will either rise or lower by 6 to 18 inches.
If the pumped storage facility is completed, water from the Seminoe Reservoir will be pumped into the upper lake through a large pipe. Dorr explained that the water will move relatively slowly towards the pipe, giving fish and boaters ample opportunity to escape.
A facility of the type proposed by rPlus Energies requires extensive federal and state involvement. Studies must be done to assess the potential economic, environmental, and cultural impacts of the pumped storage project.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is holding a public meeting next Wednesday in Rawlins to review its recently completed scoping report. The 40-page document states that the Seminoe Project would be built on U.S. Bureau of Reclamation land at Seminoe Reservoir, approximately 35 miles northeast of Rawlins. The project will involve constructing a new upper reservoir, water conveyance and maintenance tunnel system, underground powerhouse, access bridge, and two overhead transmission lines. The facility will use the Bureau of Reclamation’s existing Seminoe Reservoir on the North Platte River as the lower reservoir. Altogether, the project is set to cover nearly 1,026 acres of Bureau of Land Management land and 77 acres managed by the Bureau of Reclamation.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission states that rPlus Energies will be permitted to use 13,400 acre-feet of water from the Seminoe Reservoir to initially fill the new upper lake and 672 acre-feet a year to keep the lake topped off.
When the upper reservoir is full, approximately 10,800 acre-feet of water can be released into Seminoe Reservoir a day. The facility is capable of generating up to 2,916 gigawatt-hours of electricity a year, which can power around 317,860 homes.
If all the required state and federal approvals are granted, rPlus Energies plans to start building the Seminoe pumped storage facility within two years. Construction is expected to take five to seven years to complete. The company states that construction will employ roughly 200 local workers with the completed facility requiring 31 full-time employees.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s scoping meeting is next Wednesday, September 25th, from 6:30 to 8:30pm in the Jeffery Memorial Community Center in Rawlins. The public will be given an opportunity to voice their opinions about the proposed Seminoe pumped storage project.
